I had been resting my sand dollar on top of my chalkboard (which is quite shakily balanced on two nails and often falls down when I erase) until a few days ago. It fell down onto my desk and split almost exactly in half, spilling the tiny birds between the pieces.

It was a ready-made art project. I just used watercolors to create the blue-to-purple wash and then glued the pieces on.

I love the fact that there are tiny birds hiding inside the shell, kind of like a flat egg.